Bridging the gap

by RUBEENA MAHATO

FROM ISSUE # 200 (August 2012) | IN THIS ISSUE
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While the recent surge in social media use in Nepal is a cause for celebration, what role does it play in a country like ours where the literacy rate is barely 65 percent. Can the internet really make a difference given that a large number of Nepalis can't read and write or have access to computers and internet?

After all, it is mainly urban, middle-class Nepalis who are wired, and most of those live inside Kathmandu's Ring Road. But everything is changing so fast that the impact of social media and the internet cannot be undermined anymore.

Advancement in technolo1gy means that 5 per cent of the country's population now uses the internet. The other factor is the large diaspora population, especially in Gulf countries where migrants use it for news as well as to communicate with families back home. There are over 1.45 million Facebook users in Nepal and although this is less than five per cent of the population, it is still greater than the readership of all major daily newspapers in Nepal combined.

There are also significant numbers of Nepalis who swarm to blogs, online news portals, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter to keep up-to-date with political  and social issues, for entertainment purposes and to share their opinions.

"Social media rose to prominence once it made a transition from the personal to the political," explains Santosh Sigdel, a human rights lawyer, "many Nepalis are using Facebook and Twitter to express and discuss political opinions, not just to post family pictures."

Social media gives users much more power to participate in the production of information, it is interactive, immediate and has multimedia content. It is no longer possible to ignore the power of social media and its influence on forming and shaping public opinion. And this influence will only grow in the years to come.

Like in other parts of the world, Nepalis are first hearing of an event on Facebook or Twitter. The Maoist split in June made it to Twitter long before it was on news portals, or breaking news on tv. Timelines of tech-savvy reporters routinely carry scoops that do not even make it to the mainstream press.

Similarly, when the constitution deadline was fast approaching, there was a sudden increase in postings, and the internet became a virtual battleground as netizens engaged in debates on federalism based on identity.

Aakar Anil, a blogger and tech enthusiast, suggests leaders to take more control and engage with the social media instead of complaining about the criticism they receive on Facebook. "Gagan Thapa has more than 50,000 likes on Facebook," he says, "he can mobilise this mass for great causes if he tries." There are going to be some 3.5 million newly eligible voters in the coming election which is also the group that uses social media the most.

However, there is a downside to the so-called democratic social media. People with similar views tend to stick together; therefore instead of uniting it creates deep divisions. Hate pages and racist sites, crude photo-shopped images of politicians and anonymous people inciting violence are signs of this problem.

Economic researcher and analyst, Chandan Sapkota, says that comments are determined by the surnames or ethnic background of the writer rather than by the issues being addressed. "There is a clear grouping of people on the basis of ideological leanings and people are being increasingly intolerant and radicalised."

What's the solution? Greater regulation could be an answer, but the lines between regulation and censorship are blurry. Says Sigdel: "There is a fine line between free speech and hate speech. Who is to make that distinction?"
For now, moderate Nepalis will have to speak up, make their presence felt on social media and drown out the extreme voices.